And sometimes, it doesn't pay not to pitch to Barry Bonds, either.

We're heading into Day 187 of Barry Held Hostage and our main man remains at 69 home runs, one shy of the record. And he may stay there for awhile. Since Bonds hit his last home run Saturday, opponents have thrown Bonds 10 strikes in 15 plate appearances.

	Barry Bonds' four-pitch walk in the sixth was his 171st, surpassing Babe Ruth's record that stood since 1923.

Three of those were in the first inning Wednesday when Houston rookie starter Tim Redding struck him out with mid-90s gas. But the Astros followed that up by walking Bonds three times, including an intentional pass with runners at first and second, and he scored each time in San Francisco's 11-8 victory Wednesday.

Bonds, who singled in the eighth inning when finally thrown a strike again with a five-run lead, said he isn't frustrated but that it seems as if the Astros are afraid of him. If so, that makes them part of a club about as exclusive as the ones offering 20 compacts discs for a nickel. Because the three walks gave Bonds 172 this season and moved him past Babe Ruth for the single-season record. So obviously, the Astros aren't the only ones missing the strike zone when he bats.

Now, walks are extremely important but are underappreciated. Rickey Henderson broke Ruth's career walks record to almost no attention earlier this year and there was no fanfare when Bonds passed Ruth for the season record Wednesday. As Bonds said, "That's not a record you want. I signed up to participate, not observe."

	Most walks in a season
	Walks	Player, team	Year
	172	Barry Bonds, Giants	2001
	170	Babe Ruth, Yankees	1923
	162	Mark McGwire, Cards	1998
	162	Ted Williams, Red Sox	1949
	162	Ted Williams, Red Sox	1947
	156	Ted Williams, Red Sox	1946
	151	Barry Bonds, Giants	1996
	151	Ed Yost, Senators	1956
	150	Babe Ruth, Yankees	1920
	149	Jeff Bagwell, Astros	1999
	149	Ed Joost, Athletics	1949

Perhaps, but the three runs he scored Wednesday after being walked also represented the margin of victory.

"If you walk him three times and he winds up scoring each time, then you end up losing," Astros manager Larry Dierker said. "And if you pitch to him and he hits a home run but you win, what difference does the home run make?"

Mind you, Dierker said that before the game. So things didn't go exactly according to plan for the struggling Astros. As is often the case when teams face Bonds.

With Houston losing five in a row and suddenly fighting for a postseason spot -- going from a 5½-game lead in the NL Central last week to a first-place tie with the Cardinals and a mere three-game lead over the Giants for the wild-card spot -- the Astros are pitching Bonds very, very, very, very, very, very, very carefully.

Now, it's one thing to pitch around a great hitter when he's in a position to hurt you and you really need to win. That's the sensible thing to do when you're dealing with someone like Bonds, whose numbers seem like they were stolen from the back of Babe Ruth's baseball card. Why, after all, would you groove him a pitch when the game is close and you're in a pennant race?

It's another thing, though, to take it to an extreme by walking him to lead off an inning as the Astros did with the score tied in the sixth, or walking him intentionally with runners at first and second as they did in the seventh after reliever Mike Williams fell behind Bonds 2-0 with the Giants leading 4-3.

	“	That's not a record you want. I signed up to participate, not observe. ”
		— Barry Bonds, on passing The Babe for most walks in a season.

"I think the critical walk was the one with runners on first and second," Dierker said. "We did that because Jeff Kent was 3-for-17 against Williams and had struck out the last five at-bats (against him), so he showed some dominance against him. Obviously, you don't want to put another runner on base and move the runners another base in scoring position unless you have a very compelling reason, and we did.

"So, naturally, he stepped up and hit the first pitch for a base hit."

Kent's single scored two runs and put the Giants up 6-3. Kent also followed up Bonds' two other walks with hits, driving in three runs. Had he done that a little more often this season -- he entered the game with a .264 average with runners in scoring position -- pitchers wouldn't be so tempted to walk Bonds all the time.

And there wouldn't be a debate about whether teams should pitch around Bonds, either.

"I wasn't trying to pitch around Bonds," Williams said. "The first pitch was so-so and the next pitch was way up. Walking him was the best thing to do in that situation. It turned out that he ended up scoring but you have to play the percentages."

Redding also walked Bonds with four pitches in the fourth and reliever Nelson Cruz walked him on four pitches to lead off the sixth.

"The problem with pitching around somebody is you have to have an accomplished pitcher with good control," Dierker said. "If you're not going to throw it close, that doesn't do you any good because then he's just going to walk and be on base.

"If you have real good control, like Shane Reynolds last night, you can throw the ball just outside the strike zone, or right on the edge of the strike zone, or barely in the strike zone and maybe get him to swing.

"I wouldn't want to throw him one right down the middle either."

The Giants were comfortably ahead 8-3 in the eighth when reliever Mike Jackson faced Bonds and the veteran threw him a strike with the first pitch. Bonds responded with a single to center, driving in another run.

Bonds still has a good chance to break McGwire's record but what seemed a foregone conclusion has become a little more interesting. He needs two home runs in his final four games, or one every other game, a pace even he hasn't maintained this season.

Further, Bonds faces the rival Dodgers this weekend in San Francisco. On the one hand, with Los Angeles out of the race, it wouldn't be particularly sporting for them not to pitch to him. On the other hand, the Giants-Dodgers rivalry is a fierce one and Los Angeles probably wouldn't mind standing between Bonds and history.

Jim Caple is a senior writer for ESPN.com.